Like how your hands are important to play the most popular grooves, your feet can add that extra feel to your playing. This blog talks about the two most important foot techniques – the Heel Up and the Heel Down. Let’s get started!

Unlock the Potential of Your Right Foot

Like how single strokes, double strokes and single paradiddles improve hand technique and speed, the heel down and heel up foot technique can unlock unlimited possibilities in your playing. In this lesson we’ll learn about two different foot techniques, especially the right foot – heel down and heel up.

Unlike the hands where you hold your sticks and play any groove, our foot accesses a complex mechanism called the bass drum pedal. Therefore, it is important that you have a good relationship with the pedal for any style of playing.

Heel Down Foot Technique

The bass drum pedal is a complex mechanism that can be used in several ways. For the heel down technique, place your heel firmly on the plate of the pedal. Once you feel comfortable placing your heel on the base of the pedal, try to experiment playing slowly at first. Keep in mind that if your heel is not steady and starts sliding to the front, it can result in sloppy playing and poor foot technique.

Avoid stomping down on the pedal and ensure you don’t use the entire force from the upper body. This can result in poor sound and may damage the foot pedal. For the best sound, place your heel on the plate of the pedal and press down. Another way to have a good heel down technique is to avoid pressing hard on the pedal. This gives the bounce effect and can help you play doubles on your foot with ease.

With the heel down technique, force is not the concern, but subtlety is important. If you want to get great at playing genres like jazz, the heel down technique is the best.

Heel Up Foot Technique

Next, we move on to the heel up foot technique. Like the name suggests, lift your heel up and plant your foot down on the pedal. This style of playing is generally used in genres like heavy metal and rock as the sound is heavy.

Try to avoid the mistake of lifting your entire feet off the pedal at any given time. For the heel down technique, the heel should be firmly placed on the plate of the pedal. On the other hand, your toe is planted firmly for the heel up foot technique. The best part is that it’s not mandatory that you have to stick to one technique. Based on your style and taste in music, you can switch between the heel down and the heel up foot technique and experiment.

Try it out on the groove’s we have learnt till now. Like the rudiments, when it comes to the feet, try taking it slow until you get the hang of it. Start practising, be patient and don’t forget to relax while you play.

In the next blog post in this series on learning the drums, we learn to master the open hi-hat technique.